A MAN was going to bathe. He had his towel on his shoulder. His wife said to him, “You are worthless. You are getting old and still you cannot give up some of your habits. You cannot live a single day without me. But look at that man! What a renouncer he is!”
Husband: “Why? What has he done?”
Wife: “He has sixteen wives and he is renouncing them one by one. You will never be able to renounce.
Husband: “Renouncing his wives one by one! You are crazy. He won’t be able to renounce. If a man wants to renounce, does he do it little by little?”
Wife (smiling): “Still he is better than you.”
Husband: “You are silly; you don’t understand. He cannot renounce. But I can. See! Here I go!”
That is called intense renunciation. No sooner did the man discriminate than he renounced. He went away with the towel on his shoulder. He didn’t turn back to settle his worldly affairs. He didn’t even look back at his home.
He who wants to renounce needs great strength of mind. He must have a dare-devil attitude like a dacoit’s. Before looting a house, the dacoits shout:”Kill! Murder! Loot!” (103)
Renouncer and householder
Once a devotee named Rao, who always saw Maharaj engrossed in normal chores like cooking and tending cows, asked in a lighter vein, “Swamiji, what is the difference between a householder and you? We worry about our children and you worry about your cows”. Maharaj promptly replied, “Rao, there is an important difference. If tomorrow the Headquarters sends me a postcard asking me to leave to another Centre, I just take my loin-cloth and leave.” He then made a gesture of wiping his hands sideways, implying finishing with a task for good (and not even taking the dust of that place). “Can a householder walk out of his home in this way?” he asked. (See: Bhagavad Gita 3.25, Attachment and Detachment)
“Q: ‘How did you first get the inspiration for monastic life?’
“Swami Shankarananda: ‘First from these words: “kaupinavantah khalu bhagyavantah — the man with nothing but the loincloth is blessed indeed” (Kaupinapanchakam). Later Gupta Maharaj [Swami Sadananda] took me to Raja Maharaj [Swami Brahmananda]. Swami Brahmananda was sitting on a bench on the ground floor of the monastery building. He said to me, “Let me see your hand.” He felt the weight of my hand and said, “You will make it.” Soon Swamiji came downstairs and sat on a bench in Jnan Maharaj’s room, which was the library at that time. Then Swami Sadananda started to massage Swamiji’s legs.’
“Q: ‘Once you told me that you renounced while studying medicine. How did that happen?’
“Swami Shankarananda: ‘I used to bathe in the Ganges every day. One day, I left for my bath but then went straight to the monastery. People at home thought I had drowned in the river.’
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